As You Wish
by sao21
Summary: How Nicole Haught figured out Waverly's favorite movie, and what she did with that information.
**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

As You Wish

It took me longer than I care to admit to make the realization. I am a police officer after all; I'm trained to be observant and to make connections, but it still took me weeks to connect the dots.

When she told me about having a cat named Buttercup as a child, I was too distracted by her smile to make the connection. She was just so cute and excitable that I missed the relevance of the name. Bear in mind, she was also leaning over the bar at Shorty's when she was telling me about the little tabby and a lot of my concentration was being used in focusing on her face and not wandering down (I am only human after all), so even in retrospect I'm okay with not noticing the significance of the name.

I didn't think twice when I overheard her tell Gus that she had overslept because she had to stay up to finish watching the remake of The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and that she loves Robin Wright (Who doesn't?). While I prefer the Swedish version, the remake is still a good movie, and the book was excellent, so it made perfect sense that she would stay up late watching it. The mention of an actress didn't seem that important of a detail. And okay, the fact that her shirt left her stomach exposed may have been a bit of a distraction.

I'm embarrassed to say that I still hadn't put it together when I heard her say "Inconceivable" in response to some pathetic excuse Champ was spouting to explain why he had stood her up. Maybe I was too distracted by his idiotic tale about saving a woman with a flat tire, or how he didn't seem to detect the sarcastic, disbelieving tone that Waverly had used in her response that would have told anyone else to quit while they were ahead (and by 'ahead' I mean not being threatened by that shotgun that I know she's partial to) and not keep going on about how it was a good thing that he was the one who was there to help since there's a lot of not good guys in Purgatory – which I will agree with him there as much as it pains me. There are indeed a lot of mysterious deaths around here, and Deputy Marshal Dolls is a fool if he thinks I'll believe that coyotes and other wildlife are responsible for that many of them and all the strange circumstances and brutality surrounding the remains. It's possible that I was a bit too worried about Waverly's wellbeing when the woman that he had allegedly helped showed up, and shockingly she had not in fact had a flat tire that day (a fact that she was all too eager to share when she realized the kind of person Champ is) to really ponder the use of such an uncommon, unique word. Honestly, I was also just relieved that I didn't have to step in and do anything in an official capacity since I was off duty and the paperwork of breaking up a fight would have been excessive, to say the least.

What in the world did she see in him anyway? And was he kicked in the head by a bull? Why else would anyone ever even look at another woman if they were dating someone even half as wonderful as Waverly, let alone Waverly herself? Even though I was distracted by the idiocy of the boy-man, I should have put the pieces together by this point; the only reason I can think of to explain why I didn't make the connection here is that I was too happy that she finally broke things off with him.

It wasn't until I overheard her telling Wynonna about needing to call an exterminator, or at least getting some traps, if she didn't want to risk her having to get her shotgun out and possibly putting some more holes in the walls so they could get rid of the rats at the homestead, which apparently weren't so much rats as much as they were ROUS, that everything just clicked. All of a sudden all of the little references were blaringly obvious.

Of course Waverly would love that movie. It's funny and adorable and has true love triumphing. It's a masterpiece. And now that she was no longer seeing that boy-man, I could start thinking about asking her out. The problem was that I even though I'm not used to waiting before going after something I want, I didn't want to rush her; she did just get out of a long relationship after all, and even if he was a cheating idiot, she obviously had cared about him to stay with him for so long. I figured that best thing would be to start slow and just drop some hints to show my interest. Unfortunately subtlety is not my strong suit, especially when I'm around her.

* * *

I decided to stop in to Shorty's after my shift and saw Waverly trying to reach a box on the top shelf. She's so small and adorable and stubborn, I forget how to breathe sometimes.

"Hey Waverly, need a hand?"

"Officer Hau… I mean Nicole, hi. Wynonna's mad that I ate the last donut this morning so she thought it would be hilarious to move the cash box to the top shelf." How can anyone be this cute when rambling? "Do you mind getting it?"

"As you wish."

The most beautiful smile overtook her face, which is saying something since all of her smiles are breathtaking. "I love _The Princess Bride_."

"I know." As soon as the words escaped my mouth, I saw her eyes widen and I realized exactly what I just revealed. See? Subtlety really isn't my strong suit when it comes to one Waverly Earp. Maybe she won't realize the significance and everything will be fine.

I was wrong. The smile that she had right now is the most beautiful thing. "I still owe you a drink, don't I? Are you free Friday night?"

Maybe subtlety is overrated sometimes.


End file.
